The subject matter herein relates generally to receptacle assemblies that are configured to receive pluggable transceivers and, more specifically, to receptacle assemblies that have heat sinks for dissipating thermal energy.
Communication systems exist today that utilize plug and receptacle assemblies to transmit data. For example, network systems, servers, data centers, and the like may use plug and receptacle assemblies to interconnect the various devices of the communication system. A plug and receptacle assembly includes a cable assembly having a pluggable transceiver and a receptacle assembly. The receptacle assembly is designed to receive the pluggable transceiver. The receptacle assembly is typically mounted to a circuit board having one or more integrated circuits, processors, or the like that communicate with the pluggable transceiver through an electrical connector the receptacle assembly.
The plug and receptacle assembly includes signal pathways and ground pathways in which the signal pathways convey data signals and the ground pathways control impedance and reduce crosstalk between the signal pathways. The pluggable transceivers and receptacle assemblies may be configured to transfer electrical signals in accordance with industry standards. By way of example, known industry standards include small-form factor pluggable (SFP), enhanced SFP (SFP+), quad SFP (QSFP), C form-factor pluggable (CFP), and 10 Gigabit SFP, which is often referred to as XFP. These and similar communication systems are referred to herein as SFP-type systems. The pluggable transceivers and receptacle assemblies may be capable of implementing one or more communication protocols. Non-limiting examples of communication protocols that may be implemented include Ethernet, Fibre Channel, InfiniBand, and Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET)/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH). Pluggable transceivers may be, for example, a direct attach copper (DAC), an active optical cable (AOC), or an optical transceiver (Txcvr).
For many communication systems, such as the SFP-type systems, the receptacle assembly is also designed to absorb thermal energy from the pluggable transceiver and permit the thermal energy to dissipate into the surrounding environment. The receptacle assembly includes a receptacle cage that is designed to receive the pluggable transceiver during a mating operation. The receptacle assembly also includes a thermal-transfer module, which may be referred to as a heat sink, that is positioned along a side of the receptacle cage and includes projections (e.g., pins) that extend into the surrounding environment. The projections receive thermal energy absorbed from the pluggable transceiver and permit the thermal energy to dissipate into the surrounding environment.
Known thermal-transfer modules have been effective in transferring thermal energy from the plug and receptacle assemblies. There is a desire, however, to increase the speed and signal lane density of plug and receptacle assemblies. For example, current SFP-type systems may be configured to transfer data at 25 gigabits per second (Gbps). More recently developed systems are capable of transferring data at 50 Gbps or more, and it is predicted that transfer speeds will continue to increase. At the same time, signal lane density has increased. As the transfer speeds and signal lane densities increase, however, the thermal energy generated by the system also increases. Current thermal-transfer modules may not be capable of sufficiently transferring the thermal energy generated by the more recently developed communication systems. Systems that are not capable of sufficiently transferring the thermal energy are more vulnerable to performance issues, including failure.
Accordingly, there is a need for a receptacle assembly that is capable of transferring thermal energy away from the pluggable transceiver at a rate greater than rates achieved by conventional receptacle assemblies.